The 13th Hunger Games was when the Careers began
by RobP96
Summary: 10 years into the Games, Districts 1, 2 and 4 believed they were better than the others. It took two years for them to take action, and when Shannon Cascade from District 4 is reaped, she wants to go alone. However, the Games change her, for the worst.


**The 13th Hunger Games Was When The Careers Began**

After 10 years, and 8 wins for the tributes of Districts 1, 2 and 4, they began to believe that they were better than every other District, and when the winner of the 9th Games visited 1 and 2, all three Districts agreed to form alliances, yet for two years, the tributes were still weak, and died quickly, so to combat this, they began to train their children for victory.

In District 4, the pale blue skinned woman with diamond studded eyebrows pulled out the female tribute from the glass ball in front of her.

"_Shannon Cascade_" She said, in a booming voice.

The 15 year old girl made her way towards the podium with her mother sobbing in the background and her father silently cursing himself for believing that the Games were a good thing. Shannon reached the podium and shook hands with her tribute partner, the cocky, obnoxious, 18 year old called Cooper, who towered over her.

An hour later they boarded the train that would deliver them to the people who would bet on them, cheer for them, and cry over them. The journey there was silent, as Cooper s mother had passed away several months ago due to a rare and deadly fish that Shannon's father had caught and given to her completely by accident; as a thank you for looking after Shannon while he and his wife were on a long haul fishing trip. When the mentors had arrived in the dining cart, Cooper immediately stated that he did not want to ally with Shannon, yet wanted to stick with 1 and 2. This suited Shannon perfectly, as she was going to leave them anyway, but then she had a brainwave, to stay with them in training long enough to learn their strategies, then escape when the gong rung. The mentors immediately broke into a long lecture about what to do. Cooper was hanging on their every word, yet Shannon was forming her own plan, and was going to stick to it.

The next day, Shannon and Cooper were having the final touches added to their costumes; three different shades of blue silk that hung around their bodies and fluttered in the Capitol wind, before they were whisked along the City Center, waving to the people who might save their lives. After twenty minutes they were back in the training center and being directed to the tributes from 1 and 2. However Shannon quickly dodged this meeting by talking to the stylist, before going to their floor.

In training, Shannon stuck to her plan, observe but ignore, and while she did hang around with them,  
she also got plenty of time to practise alone, taking particular pride in her spear throwing ,having manned the harpoons on the boats. Her spear throwing earned her a score of 9, with Cooper earning a 10 due to his natural ability with a sword. The interviews came and went, with the Careers revealing their bloodthirsty nature and desire to win.

When the plates rose to the canyon style arena, Shannon noticed a harpoon laying next to a green backpack next to the mouth of the cornucopia, and when the gong rang, she charged for it, grabbed it and had vanished into the huge ditch that ran through the ground before the gong had finished ringing. 15 tributes died in the bloodbath, due to the lack of hiding places and the viciousness of the Careers. 3 days had passed since the bloodbath with only 2 more dying, and the Games were beginning to get dull due to the monotony of the landscape and the spread of the tributes, so the Game Makers flooded the ditch, forcing all tributes who hid there to battle up top. Shannon had found a small ravine, and with her harpoon could spear the small fish that swam along it, but was still forced upwards by the sudden surge of water, and crashed onto the ground next to a small blood red poisonous fish, the same one that had killed Cooper's mother. From then, Shannon changed, driven slightly mad from the stress of the games and the intense heat, she became a ruthless killer, spearing her opponents from afar with her poisoned harpoon until it was only her and Cooper left. He saw her harpoon coming before he could reach his sword, and instead diverted the blade from his heart using his hands, unaware of the poison. When he charged at her, she stood still, with a smirk on her face as huge, deadly Cooper collapsed at her feet, the poison searing through his body before claiming his life.

When Shannon returned home, she lived in her house in the Victors Village alone, driven ever-so-slightly mad by the games, and mentoring the tributes each year until her death, 16 years later, by consumption of the small, blood red fish that had claimed so many.


End file.
